Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston: Literary Analysis

Zora Neale Hurston was an American novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, and short story writer and is closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston grew up in one of America’s first all-black communities. Growing up in this unique community gave her a sense of independence, freedom and boldness that many African-Americans, especially females, did not have during this time. Growing up in that community distinguished her from other writers of her time, and it is clearly reflected in her work. Hurston wrote many short stories, plays, essays and four published novels. Of all of the works she published and accomplishments she had, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford a young African-American girl growing up in

Throughout the novel Janie must discover what she thinks is important in regards to love such as innocence, understanding and openness, which she associates with the actual meaning of true love. Through the various marriages in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the novel suggests that stability is irrelevant in comparison to true love.

There are a variety of ways this novel suggests that true love is far more important than financial stability. One instance of this was in chapter six, in this chapter Janie’s husband Joe Starks, that Janie meet and almost immediately ran off with, begins to show troublesome behavior. Janie is drawn to this man because he is strong, independent and successful and he can provide her a comfortable life because he was wealthy and successful. Even though he was able to provide finical stability for Janie, she was still unhappy in her marriage to him. Chapter six of Hurston’s novel gives a prime example of Janie being unhappy in the marriage, when her husband Joe Starks attempts to make Janie a submissive house wife and she starts to grow